Jeff has been involved in aerospace journalism since the mid 1990s. Prior to joining Aviation Week, Jeff served as managing editor of Launchspace magazine and the International Space Industry Report. He has been the editor and chief of Aviation Week's Aerospace Daily & Defense Report since 2007 and has been a regular contributor to Aviation Week magazine. He received his B.A. from the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Va.
The Deep Impact team has made some last-minute adjustments to its planned Jan. 12 launch after discovering that the mission's Delta II rocket was somewhat overweight after being integrated with the spacecraft. Deep Impact is scheduled to launch from pad 17-B at Cape Canaveral during an "instantaneous" launch window occurring at 1:47:08 a.m. Eastern time. The weight issue was discovered during a late trajectory run-through, according to Omar Baez, launch director at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
The next-generation air traffic management (ATM) system being developed by the Joint Planning and Development Office (JPDO) will allow for greater independence on the part of pilots and more "strategic" thinking by controllers, according to JPDO Deputy Director Robert Pearce.
Honeywell began flight-tests of its 13-inch Micro Air Vehicle (MAV) at company facilities in Albuquerque, N.M., last month, in anticipation of handing the system over to the Army for evaluation in March. Honeywell is developing the MAV for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) as an advanced concept technology demonstration (ACTD). A backpack-portable ducted-fan surveillance UAV, the MAV is being developed to serve as the Class 1 UAV in the Army's Future Combat Systems (FCS) program.
